Hertz charges into EV Plugless Power pilot program, can't say it three times fast

Hertz has been offering up electric vehicles amongst its fleet of rental cars, and now it's getting ready to pull the plug. The company is teaming with Evatran to test out the those cool little Plugless Power discs, installing some at its corporate headquarters this month. Hertz, along with a number of other companies will be logging "feedback on daily usage routines, user interfaces, and any additional functionality needed." No word on when such technology might see wider distribution.

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HERTZ FIRST TO TRIAL WIRELESS EV RECHARGING

The Hertz Corporation (NYSE:HTZ) and Hertz Global EV is implementing the first wireless charging system for electric vehicles (EVs) in the car rental industry. Hertz has the most diverse fleet of EVs for both rental and carshare.

"Hertz is committed to its Global EV program, introducing electric vehicles into our rental fleet on three continents – North America, Asia and Europe," commented Mark P. Frissora, Hertz Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We're excited to participate in Plugless Power's pilot program so that we can be on the ground floor of this new technology; learning key findings about EV wireless charging. As we move forward our goal is to have a variety of charging options for EV customer use, aligned with the charging equipment installed by EV manufacturers."

The trial, the first of its kind in the world, will help to establish the United States as the EV market leader. The trial will follow Hertz, and leaders from five other industry segments, as they trial Plugless Power systems on their own electric vehicles. Participants will provide feedback on daily usage routines, user interfaces, and any additional functionality needed. The Plugless Power system is supplied by Evatran based in Virginia.

Installation at Hertz's corporate headquarters will be completed in February 2012.

Hertz is the first car-rental company to deploy EVs and PHEVs (plug-in hybrid electric) on three continents -- in the U.S. (available to the public in New York, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco), the U.K. (available in London), and China (available in Shanghai). As the world's largest airport general-use car-rental brand, Hertz is introducing multiple groups of consumers – urban drivers, university students, travelers and corporations – to all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. As a result, the company is forming partnerships with automakers, charging-station providers (e.g., GE), municipalities, non-governmental organizations, corporations and other stakeholders to make EVs easily accessible to consumers.

Hertz plans to increase its global EV presence by deploying vehicles in other countries in the coming months. Hertz Global EV will continue to leverage the company's rental and car sharing locations as bases for vehicles and charging stations, and tap into its technology – including sophisticated fleet management tools and consumer-facing GPS systems, including Hertz NeverLost in the U.S. – to help form an EV grid.

Plugless Power™, developed by Evatran™, is the first electric vehicle (EV) charging system on the market to offer customers a simple way to charge their EVs with the ease of hands-free technology. Utilizing inductive power transfer, which has been used in electrical transformers for more than 100 years, Plugless Power streamlines the charging of electric vehicles by eliminating the cord and the plug. In addition to aftermarket distribution, Evatran is currently working with automotive manufacturers to integrate the Plugless Power technology into mass-market EVs as a factory or dealership option. For more information, visit www.pluglesspower.com.